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Evansville Tornado (2005)

Tornado November 6, 2005 · Spencer County, Indiana

Rating

41.3 mi

Whole path

50 yd

Path width

Deaths

238

Injuries

$87.3M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Henderson County, Kentucky → Vanderburgh County → Henderson County, Kentucky → Vanderburgh County → Warrick County → Spencer County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F0 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F0 meant light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken; the scale paired it with winds of 40–72 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado crossed into Spencer County from Warrick County just before dissipating. Some tin and insulation was found in a field at the end of the tornado track. The tornado was estimated to have weakened to F-0 strength shortly before it entered Spencer County.

The wider storm

This was the deadliest tornado in Indiana since April 3, 1974. This tornado tracked a total of 41 miles from Henderson County, KY into Spencer County, IN. A total of at least 500 homes and buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. Much of the damage was upper F-2 to lower F-3 intensity. Although the tornado was up to 500 yards wide, the average path width was 275 yards. Of the approximately 230 injuries, 20 were critical, and 63 resulted in hospital admissions. This tornado was the more northern tornado of a pair of strong supercell tornadoes that occurred simultaneously. The southern tornado occurred in Crittenden and Webster Counties of Kentucky.

Began near Gentryville (38.0833, -87.0833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5480599. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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